Christie’s Antiquities sale on 9 December was highlighted by an 11 ½ inch Cycladic marble reclining female figure, circa 2400 B.C. The piece of one of twelve known by the “Schuster Master,” so-called for this piece which once belonged to Swiss collector Marion Schuster. This example, which is the only complete work from the artist to survive, has never been up for auction before. It was last on the market in 2006, when the Aboutaam brothers, owners of Phoenix Ancient Art, exhibited it in their booth at the Paris Biennale. The piece was sold shortly after that to a private collector who consigned it to Christie’s for sale on TK December. The idol sold for $16,882,500, against presale expectations of $3-5 million. The price was a new auction record for a Cycladic marble figure, eclipsing the previous auction record of $2.09 million, paid at Sotheby’s for a Cycladic head in December 1988.